Heart of a Lion: YouTube Fave Lives On in Memoir

One-time owners of Christian the lion recall the wild years
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 31, 2009 3:33 PM CDT

A lion who went wild after being raised by his hippy "parents" in their London shop, and later became a YouTube fave, has been immortalized again in a new memoir, Time reports. The emotional reunion in Africa between Christian the lion and his former owners has been viewed over 10 million times. It's not certain for long minutes in the scene whether the giant beast plans to eat them—or hug them. 

"Grunting with excitement, this enormous lion jumped all over us, but he was gentle. Christian showed his affection in exactly the same way," recall Anthony Bourke and John Rendall in their book, A Lion Called Christian, which Time calls "stirring." Christian moved to new territory two years later, and his friends lost track of him. "He had miraculously returned to Africa, survived the most dangerous years," the men write. "We could not regret anything." (More lion stories.)

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